We woke at 8am and it had just started snowing heavily about an hour earlier (judging by the roof tiles across from the window). We kitted up, grabbed a couple of hot take away snacks on the way and caught THE LAST GONDOLA UP TO THE TOP JUST BEFORE THE WINDS HIT. It was going to be a day of lasts for us and a day of major luck too BTW. We got off half way and headed straight for my usual long powder stash area (you will have to pay me to learn its name). There were about 10 others there and the ground had islands of scary ice that were pock marked from the nights rain.

The conditions (during the first run) turned very nasty and the snow was so fast and horizontal that any bare skin was stinging and frozen. We had no choice but to regroup at the cafe and lick our wounds while we waited for the weather to settle down and continue to dump away onto those icy bits. About an hour later we had a foot of powder all over the icy bits and it was still windy but not so much as to hurt your face anymore. Leo had bought goggles to replace his sunnies, as well as some demister and a face protector.

We had about 7-8 runs there, we also did about 3 on the uber-powdery “fire break” (as well as two Leo-style tea breaks) and were told at about 3:50 that this was our last chairs. They had finally worked out we were the only ones still up there and the weather was only going to get worse that night. It was an amazing day for powder, we watched it build about 10 inches per hour, visibility was really bad, we couldn’t work out the terrain through the white-out sometimes. The wind and snow would wipe away your last tracks by filling ‘em as well as blowing them away… THE best monday so far AND I had a witness…AAAND green tea!!

Not a camera day really, so sorry but no pics. As we headed home from the top of the chairs I took Leo to a spot I had seen the other day from the gondola, it was steep, smooth, deep and opened up to an awesomely wide bowl at its bottom, see slurpy version still image. A patrol guy on ski’s (the woose) told us to head home, which we were kinda doing anyways… Leo was actually getting scared about the weather which is unusual for Leo. I had to go straight – for a change – as I arrived in the bowl area, the powder was so thick and the incline wasn’t steep enough to get me out, I was definitely in tune with speed vs deepness that day.

We then glided as if on a cloud along a short road that took us to the top of some ~shudder~ moguls. These moguls were ugly mothers, they had huge islands of pock marked ice with indents of powder – lets just say that Leo’s right butt cheek was almost seperated from his body a few times and my butt padding is my new best friend. I was doing really well that day and had my very best run EVER as I found a smooth window to the right of the moguls which I knew would take me to an even smoother and deeper ledge area, I then got alot of speed up and had escaped the mogul region and just kept going while the mountain was willing. It was an awesome run for me and I stood there in disbelief while I waited for Leo to catch up.

We then arrived to what we call the “Mos Burger Region” (a newbies area with shops) and were the last boarders to be seen – even the local lift guys were all walking home as we were taking off our boards for a well earned plate of hot chips and sauce. We then took the road down to where we had started on the gondola that morning, & there was no-one around… We were, in fact, The Last Snow Boarders!